


Curse Of The Mummy

by Twisted_Mirror



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alderaan, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Horror, Ancient Alderaan, Armitage Hux Has Feelings, Armitage Hux Has Issues, Badass Rey, Creepy Snoke (Star Wars), Curse Breaking, Curses, Dead Darth Sidious, Dead Snoke (Star Wars), Desert, Evil Snoke, Exegol (Star Wars), F/M, Feral Rey, First Kiss, First Meetings, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Historical References, Horror, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Love Stories, Mentioned Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Mummies, Mummy AU, Nice Armitage Hux, Oral Sex, Romance, Rough Kissing, Rough Sex, Sith Artefact, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smut, Snoke Being a Dick, Soft Ben Solo, Treasure Hunting, Twenties, Vaginal Sex, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars), city of the dead, the mummy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:35:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26002771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twisted_Mirror/pseuds/Twisted_Mirror
Summary: Librarian and ancient Alderaanian archivist Ben Solo stumbles on to a possible clue leading to the ancient City Of The Dead, Exegol. He ropes thief and adventurer Rey into helping him as the echoes of an ancient curse and the past catch up with them. An evil that has laid dormant for centuries is awoken once more.
Relationships: Kylo Ren & Rey, Kylo Ren/Rey, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 42
Kudos: 50
Collections: Let's Go to the Movies - Reylo Readers & Writers Prompt Exchange





	1. The Librarian

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reymmefatale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reymmefatale/gifts).



Alderaan - 2,134 B.C

Amidst the golden deserts of Kuat lay the magnificent City of the Living, Alderaan, known as the crown jewel of Queen Organa the First. A battle horse-drawn chariot rode into the open plaza of the golden palace, driven by a warrior, one of the Queen’s personal guard. He handed the reigns to a young stable boy as he hopped down, his taut, battle honed muscles glistening in the dipping sun. Looking out at the City and the arrival of her warrior, the Falcon, stood the Queen, the orange and pink of the low sun painting her skin in warmth. Known as the Falcon for his swift agility and battle and the grace which he moved. Her eyes filled with emotion and a smile danced across her face as she waited for him to reach her. 

She moved away from the balcony and into her quarters, soft drapes hanging from the walls, her inner sanctuary. Her olive-skinned body was painted in the ancient Alderaanian tradition, golden shimmer and black lines, each one signifying a part of her kingdom. She made her way through the ornate statuary and fabric in her room, her heart beating wildly in anticipation. That was when she saw him, the Falcon, approaching her through the sheer curtains, his eyes dark and intense, thrilling her as much now as when they first met. She embraced him, pulling him to her as he let out a little sigh of relief. They kissed passionately, almost feverishly, the Falcon’s hands roaming over her perfect body, smearing the paint with his desperate fingers. 

“I cannot keep us secret any longer my love,” she whispered into his ear, her eyes moist with tears she couldn’t allow herself to shed.

“Not until we have dealt with Sidious, he wants your kingdom and will use anything to destroy you,” he pressed his forehead against hers.

“I know, you are right…for once.”

He laughed affectionately, though knowing deep down he would risk life itself for her love. 

“Enough of Sidious…why don’t you make up for the time that you’ve been away?” she smiled coyly at him, her dark hair framing her face.

He cocked his brow, matching her smile, as she pulled him towards her divan. 

“Well…I wouldn’t want to disappoint my Queen,” he said, his voice husky with lust.

They fell on to the bed, and soon were a mesh of naked glistening limbs locked in a dance of passion, as the stars above pierced the indigo sky. 

As the dawn light rose, the warrior reluctantly slid from his beloved’s bed and silently left her room before people noticed. It broke his heart every time he had to leave but it was necessary for now. When she had given birth to their son, she attributed as a gift from the Gods and people had not questioned it due to their love of their Queen, nobody except the Grand Advisor and his High Priest Snoke. He had volunteered to dispatch them countless times, but she would never agree to it, always choosing the righteous path and the way of peace. Lost in his thoughts, he did not hear the soft footsteps behind him until the sound of a knife being drawn from its sheaf alerted him to danger. As he whirled around to defend himself, it was too late, Sidious draped in black, loomed over him and plunged the dagger into his chest. The wrinkled High Priest chuckled as the betrayed warrior dropped to his knees, shock and pain drained his face of colour. 

A scream broke through the silence as the Queen ran from her room, towards her fallen lover. Sidious fled into the shadows, disappearing as she screamed for her guards the Jedi to help. As she reached her lover, he fell into her arm, his eyes closing, it was too late, he was gone. She screamed with rage and guilt, stones smashing around her, dust filling the air. Her tears ran freely as she clung to the body, already turning cold in her arms, his blood soaking into her diaphanous gown.

XXXX

Tattoine 1923

Tattoine, an ancient city so old the stars have actually changed their positions in the  
sky since its birth. It has always been a city teeming with life, a constant hustle and bustle of survival. It had always been a strange, mysterious, wonderful city, its history beyond count.  
Deep in the city lay the Tattoine Museum of Antiquities, its orange stones catching the hot sun. In the bowels of the museum lay the stacks where rows upon rows of towering bookshelves filled the room. The dusty shelves were filled with literature on the Antiquities of its city, its country. 

Perched at the top of a tall ladder between two of the rows and leaning against one of the bookshelves, was a man. He was tall but his posture was a little hunched, like someone who tried to hide himself in a room. His black hair flopped over his bespectacled face as he pulled a book from a pile he had tucked under his arms. Blowing the dust off it he placed he placed it on the shelf with the rest of the books that began with ‘R’. He pulled out another one systematically and read the title with a frown.

“Sidious…what are you doing up here?”

Carefully, so as not to lose his balance, he looked over his shoulder to the bookshelf behind him, where all the titles began with the letters 'S’. He looked down, frowning at the distance, it would have to be this high up. Trying to save time he gently set the other books down on the top shelf, then turned and gingerly began to reach across the aisle with the out of place Sidious book. It was a little too far, so he stretched out, reaching, holding the top of the ladder with his fingertips, he’d almost got it.

That was when the ladder decided to pull away from the shelf. Ben yelled, flinging the Sidious book and grabbed the top of the ladder, which stood straight up. Ben held his breath as he swayed precariously, a few seconds went by until he thought he would get out of this. He lost his balance, as the ladder swung around and Ben started stilt walking down the aisle with the ladders, his face stricken with panic. The ladder crossed the aisle, did an about face and headed back the way it came. Ben clung to the top, struggling for balance as the ladder teetered out into the main aisle and picked up speed. Ben shouted out a muffled curse as the ladder spun around once more and spun into another aisle before finally crashing to a stop at the top of a bookshelf. Ben held his breath, before sighing heavily.

As his breath exhaled, the bookshelf fell away from him and crashed into the next bookshelf. Ben slid down the ladder and plopped to the floor in a heap. He looked up just as the domino effect kicked in, each bookshelf crashing into the next. Bookshelf after bookshelf, thousands of volumes  
flew off shelves and scattered across the floor. Ben stood shakily as the crashing occurred around him, it seemed to go on forever. It finally ended as the last shelf smashed into a wall. Ben's eyes were closed, flinching at each crash. He opened one eye warily before looking left and then right. He then opened the other eye and stared at the huge mess with a groan.

It was not long before the museum curator, his Uncle, stormed in waving his hands.

“Look at this! Son of the Jedi! Give me frogs, flies, locusts, anything but this! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!”

Ben quickly started gathering books, trying not to drop them as he did.

“Luke, I’m sorry, it was an accident,” he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

“When Dooku destroyed Geonosis, it was an accident. You are a catastrophe! Why do I put up with you?” the older man sighed.

Ben turned to him, trying to contain himself.

“You put up with me, because I can read and write ancient Alderaanian, decipher hieroglyphs and hieratic, and I'm the only person within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code  
and catalogue this library!”

Ben looked a little embarrassed at his outburst but stood his ground.

“I put up with you because your mother and father, the maker rest their souls. Now straighten up this mess!”

The Curator stormed out leaving Ben just standing there, steaming, when he heard a noise and quickly turned around. 

“Hello?”

There was no response, just an eerie quiet when he heard it again, like feet, slowly shuffling  
across the floor, coming from a nearby gallery.

“Connix? Wexley? Beaumont?”

Ben walked through the stacks and entered the Organa Gallery, filled with treasures and plunder from the Middle Kingdom. It was dark and quiet in there, the only light coming from flickering torches at either end of the gallery.

He heard the noise again from the far side of the room, like feet, slowly shuffling, plodding across the floor. Ben grabbed a torch, looking around. The statue of Plagueis, another of Amidala stared down at him as he began to feel nervous. He walked down the aisle past a closed sarcophagus, past cases of ancient artifacts from long lost artefacts. He reached another sarcophagus, only this one was open. Ben froze, swallowing hard as he nervously looked around to see who could have opened it. He slowly leant forward with the torch, and peered inside.

A hideous rotted mummy sat up and screeched at him! Ben shouted and dropped the torch backing away, scared out of her wits. Then coming from inside the sarcophagus, he heard a man laughing. His eyes narrowed as a foppish redhead crawled out from behind the Mummy, laughing his ass off, clearly half inebriated.

“You...! You…!”

“Drunkard? Fool? Rat-bastard? Cad? Please, call me something original,” the man laughed. 

“Armi, when will you learn to carry yourself with a degree of comportment?”

Armitage crawled out of the sarcophagus, still laughing to himself. Ben pulled a cigarette out of the mummy's mouth that Armitage had placed there.

“Have you no respect for the dead?” Ben huffed.

He grinned drunkenly as Ben punched him in the chest.  
“Oww!”

“Maybe I want to join them,” he teased, hiccupping.

“Well I wish you'd do it sooner rather than later, before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours.”

“My dear, sweet, baby brother, I'll have you know, that at this moment my career is on a high note.”

He belched, before falling back and sitting on the edge of the tomb.

“High note? Ha! For five years you've been scrounging around Tattoine, and what have you  
to show for it? Nothing, and anyway its adopted baby brother.”

Armitage, or Armi excitedly started scrounging around in his jacket, Ben’s arms folded as he waited impatiently.

“Oh yes I do! I have something right here!”

“Oh no, not another worthless trinket. If I bring one more piece of junk to the Curator to try and sell for you…”

Armitage pulled out a small, ancient metallic box etched with patterns. Ben was instantly curious, having not seen any other artefact like it and grabbed the box out of his brother’s hand.

“Where did you get this?”

Armitage knew Ben’s weaknesses and gave him a mischievous smile.

“On a dig, down in Jakku.”

Ben rolled the box around in his hands, mumbling to himself as he translated the hieratics and hieroglyphs covering it. Armitage licked his lips in anticipation excitedly.

“My whole life I've never found anything of worth, Ben tell me I've found something.”

Ben's fingers played with the various little slats on the box, shifting them this way and that way hoping he would find something. It reminded him of a puzzle box that his mother had let him play with when he was little. Then suddenly, it unfolded itself, almost-mechanically. Sitting inside the open box is a folded piece of golden papyrus. Ben opened it with shaky hands, it was ancient map.

“Armitage?”

“Yes?”

“I think you found something.”

−−

Ben and Armitage stood by Luke’s desk, waiting anxiously as he stared through a jeweller's eyepiece at the box. Ben hovered behind him, excited, his eyes alight with the potential possibilities.

“See the cartouche there, it's the official royal seal of Organa the First, I'm sure of it.”

“Perhaps.”

Armitage leant in from across the desk.

“Two questions. Who the hell is Organa the First? And was he rich?”

“SHE was the last Queen of the Old Kingdom, said to be the wealthiest Queen of them all.”

“Alright, good, that's good. I like this fellow; I like him very much.”

Luke picked up the map, studying it with a frown.

“I've already dated it; this map is almost four thousand years old. And the hieratics over here.... they appear to be Sith,” Ben inhaled deeply. “It's Exegol.”

Luke seemed to freeze, a nervous look on his face before recovering himself.

“My dear boy, don't be ridiculous, we are scholars, not treasure hunters. Exegol is a myth.”

“Are we talking about the Exegol?” Armitage asked, his heart racing.

“Yes, it’s known as the City of The Dead. The early Kings and Queens were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt there.”

“Right, right, in a big underground treasure chamber. Everybody knows the story; it was mother’s favourite. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand. On the Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch, the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes,” Armitage replied.

“All we know is that the city mysteriously vanished around 2,134 B.C,” Ben wiped his glasses on his tweed waistcoat.

Luke held the map closer to candle lamp to get a better look at it.

“As the Americans would say: it's all fairy tales and hokum,” he said caustically. 

They all stared in horror as they map caught on fire. Luke swiftly threw it to the floor. Armitage dropped to his knees in a desperate attempt to put it out, patting against it, before lifting it up with a frown. The whole left third of the map was now missing.

“You burned it! You burned off the part with the lost city!” 

Luke curiously did not look that concerned.

“It's for the best, I'm sure. Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Exegol, no one has ever found it, most have never returned.”

Armitage sat on the floor still, staring at the charred piece of paper. 

“You killed my map,” he sulked.

“It was probably fake, anyway, I'm surprised at you Ben to be so fooled.”

His Uncle reached for the box when Ben quickly snatched it off the desk, giving him a very angry, suspicious look. His Uncle was definitely hiding something, he just did not know what or why.


	2. The Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Armitage find the person that Armitage stole the ancient artefact from, and they are not what Ben expected to find in the hive of criminals.  
> Ben makes a deal to save someone's life and help their quest.

Tattoine prison, the Mos Eisley jail was without a doubt one of the worst hell holes on earth. Every form of scum and villainy could be found here whether you wanted to or not. The warden himself, Unkar Plutt, someone of dubious morals himself escorted Ben and Armitage across the gallows courtyard. 

“You told me you found it on a dig down in Jakku!” Ben hissed at his brother, his annoyance all over his face.

“I was mistaken.”

“You lied to me…again.”

“I lie to everybody, what makes you so special?”

“I'm your brother.”

“Adopted,” Armitage smirked.

“You stole it from a drunk at the local Casbah?!”

“Picked her pocket, actually.”

“Her?” Ben’s eyes widened as Unkar and Armitage walked on without him.

Ben could not help but feel disappointed in his step brother, but grew more annoyed at himself. Why did he keep expecting miracles? Sighing, he quickly ran to catch up as the Warden ushered them into the holding pen.

“What is she in prison for?” Ben asked, peering round them to the cells.

“I did not know, so when I heard you were coming, I asked her that myself.”

“And what did she say?”

“She said...she was just looking for a good time.”

The interior cell door burst open as the dubious guards dragged a woman in chains out.

“Are four guards really necessary for a girl?” Ben asked concerned, trying to get a better view at the petite, muck covered woman.

It was then the woman headbutted one of the guards and kicked the other violently in the groin. Ben stood back, a little shaken by the feral nature of the girl and the ferocity in her eyes. They shoved her roughly up against the cell bars. From the looks of it, she’d been there awhile; her dirty face half hidden by long tangled hair and many new bruises. Ben looked at her, disgusted by her appearance and he smell coming from the prison in general. He delicately held a handkerchief up to his nose, noticing the woman roll her eyes at him.

“But she's just a filthy criminal?”

The woman gave Ben the once over then looked at Armitage.

“So, who's the stiff?” she nodded at Ben.

“Stiff?!” Ben spluttered.

“He's my brother, actually, well adopted.”

“Yeah? Well...I'm sure he's not a total loss.”

Ben was stunned and furious, that someone like that would address him in such a manner. Unkar headed out the door.

“I'll be back in a moment.”

“Ooh, I tremble with anticipation,” she shot out sarcastically.

A Guard clubbed her across the head making her face bounce off the metal bars. She showed no pain, but looked back and gave the Guard a look filled with rage. 

“Is that really necessary?” Ben scowled.

The guards just scoffed him while the girl studied him curiously.

“We uh, found .... your puzzle box, and we've come to ask you about it,” Ben said approaching the bars.

“No.”

“No?”

“No... You came to ask me about Exegol.”

Ben and Armitage quickly look around, hoping that the guards didn't hear him. They stepped closer, Ben playing coy.

“How do you know the box pertains to Exegol?” Ben leaned closer to the bars.

“Because that's where I was when I found it.”

Ben was dumbstruck but Armitage looked suspicious.

“How do we know that's not a load of bantha poodo?”

The woman looked closer at Armitage, a glint of recognition in her hazel eyes.

“Hey, don't I know you?” she frowned.

“Um, well, you see....”

Her fist came flying through the bars and hit Armitage square in the jaw, making a satisfying crack. He hit the floor, out cold while a guard restrained the woman again. Ben smirked, looking down at Armitage’s still body. Stepping over him, he addressed the thief again.

“So, you’re saying you were actually in Exegol?”

“I just decked your brother.”

Ben shrugged.

“Yes, well, I know my brother, he usually deserves it.”

Th woman almost smiled. 

“Yeah, I was there,” she replied softly.

“You swear?”

“Every damn day,” she grinned.

“No, I mean—” 

“I know what you mean. I was there, …the City of The Dead.”

“What did you find? What did you see?”

She tried not to focus on his dark eyes, rich and intense, looking at her full of hope and excitement. They should not affect her the way they were, he was just her way out of here.

“All I found was sand and death.”

Unkar Plutt returned, making Ben quickly lean in closer to the girl.

“Could you tell me how to get there? The exact location?”

“You really want to know?”

Ben leant in even closer, nodding.

“Are you sure?”

He leant her face right up to the bars, nervous and excited, his heart pounding.

“Yes…please.”

She stepped forward and before Ben could react, she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck pulling him in closer and kissed him full on the lips, hard and fast. Ben’s eyes widened in shock.

“Then get me the hell outta here!” she hissed as she pulled away.

Ben was still stunned from the kiss when a guard grabbed her again and yanked her away from the bars and dragged her from them room.

“Where are they taking her?”

“To be hanged,” Plutt smiled cruelly.

Ben was horrified as the warden shows off his green teeth, his fetid breath reaching him.

“Apparently, she had a very good time.”

−−

Hundreds of filthy, rowdy prisoners stared down onto the gallows as the hangman's noose was draped over the thief’s head and cinched tight around her neck. Ben followed the warden onto a balcony above the gallows as all of the prisoners all went quiet at the sight of her; like jackals staring at fresh meat. The fact that she was a woman added to their entertainment.

“What’s her name?”

“Rey, Johnson I think, she’s nobody.”

He shrugged and sat down while Ben sat down tentatively next to him.

“I will give you one hundred credits to spare her life,” Ben said, leaning forward on his rickety chair.

“I would pay one hundred credits just to see her hang,” Plutt laughed.

“Two hundred credits,” Ben tried to keep the panic from his voice.

“Proceed!” Plutt shouted to his minions.

“Three hundred credits!”

Rey could hear every word of the exchange, her expression becoming more hopeful. Other than  
Ben’s bartering, you could hear a pin drop. Plutt’s hangman turned to Rey with a sneer.

“Any last requests desert rat?”

“Yeah, I'd like you to let me go.”

The Hangman grabbed the lever to the trapdoor, ready to let her body drop to her death.

“FIVE HUNDRED CREDITS!” Ben shouted, inwardly imagining how his Uncle would react.

“And what else?” Plutt asked.

“What more do you want?” Ben asked exasperatedly. 

Insulted, Plutt angrily turned and gestured to the hangman, who pulled the lever. The trapdoor dropped away letting Rey’s body drop.

“NOOO!” Ben shot up from his seat, his stomach falling to his feet.

Rey dropped through the hole, the rope jerking taught, Rey’s body snapping at the end of the rope.  
Ben felt nauseated, barely able to register the brutality he had just witnessed, praying that she was not dead. 

“Her neck did not break! Good!” Plutt shouted.

Ben watched in horror as the woman struggled at the end of the rope, being strangled to death slowly. The prisoners all around them are screaming and shouting in what seems to be anger. The guards looked around nervously as Rey’s body jerked and twisted, gagging. Ben was horrified so quickly turned to the warden, leaning forward to whisper into his ear.

“She knows the location to Exegol.”

Plutt spins around and faced him, his curiosity and greed peaked. 

“You’re lying.”

“I would never, on my honour!” 

At the end of the rope, Rey was choking and gagging and turning several shades of red. Plutt stared at Ben, then back at Rey.

“Are you saying this filthy godless whore knows where to find The City of The Dead? Truly?”

“Yes, and if you cut her down, we will give you ten percent.”

“Fifty percent,” Plutt countered.

“Twenty.”

“Forty.”

Ben hesitated, biting his lip. Rey’s eyes bulged as she looked up at him, praying for a way out.

“Twenty-five percent, and not one single credit more,” Ben hoped he sounded as firm as he was trying to come across.

The warden flashed a big green smile, then yelled in huttese to his men. A scimitar slashed through the air and cut the rope around Rey’s neck. She crashed to the ground, half dead before rolling over, gagging. All of the prisoners burst into cheers as Rey looked up at Ben, her unlikely saviour. Ben awkwardly smiled and waved down at her. Rey groaned and rolled over.

−−−−

Tattoine Port

Teams of explorers swarmed the docks on the Great River, the pyramids spiking the sky against the early morning sun, already bright and hot. Ben and Armitage walked along the boardwalk carrying their bags whilst trying to ignore the city’s persistent hawkers selling everything from toy tombs to King Revan action figures.

“Do you really think she'll show up?” Ben asked, growing impatient.

“Undoubtedly, I know the breed, she may be a thief, but her word is her word.”

“Personally, I think she's filthy, rude and a scavenger. I don't like her one bit.”

“Anyone I know?” the voice came from behind them.

They both turned to see Miss Johnson walking up to them, at least they thought it was her, for she looked completely different. She was now showered; her previously scraggly hair was clean and shiny and braided neatly behind her. Her clothes were clean and neat, though not the clothes of a lady, she was dressed as an adventurer, tanned breeches, cream shirt and leather boots. She was completely different from the feral prisoner they had met the previous day, but he recognised the spark in her eyes. Ben gulped.

“Oh .... um, hello,” he replied primly, looking over his glasses.

Armitage reached out his hand to shake Rey’s.

“Smashing day for the start of an adventure, eh, Johnson?”

Johnson quickly checked her pockets, eyeing Armitage suspiciously.

“Yeah, sure, smashing.”

She found her coin bag and relaxed. Ben, recovering from her transformed appearance cleared his throat.

“Miss Johnson, can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam? Because if it is, I'm warning you…”

Rey stepped up closer to Ben, invading her space and looking him straight in the eye, her expression serious and hard, though Ben was sure he saw a mysterious glint in her eyes. Ben didn’t back away.

“All I can tell you, Mr…Solo was it? Is that my father found that map in an ancient fortress, and he and his whole damn garrison believed in it so much, that without orders, he marched them halfway across Kuat and Alderaan to find that city. Like I told you, all I saw was sand. Everybody else was wiped out by sand raiders.”

“Ah.”

“You’re also not the only one who is trying to find the lost city,” Rey nodded her head up towards the deck of the barge.

Another group of explorers loitered on the deck, Coruscantians. Ben frowned.

Rey took her bags effortlessly and headed up the gangplank and onto the passenger barge in the dock. Ben couldn’t stop her eyes following her a bit wistfully, unable to move his eyes from the sway of her breech clad hips to the point that Armitage noticed.

“Yes, yes, you're right, filthy, rude, a complete scavenger, nothing to like there at all.”

Ben gave him a look daring him to say anything. Armitage just grinned when Unkar Plutt suddenly brushed past them, tipping his raggedy, faded hat.

“A bright good morning to all,” he shouted loudly.

“What are you doing here?” Ben huffed.

“I have come to protect my investment, thank you very much.”

Then without so much as a backwards look he too headed up the gangplank. The two brothers shared a look.

After all of the passengers had boarded, the barge pulled out of the dockside and began to head down the wide river as the sun beat down upon the land.


	3. Assassins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Ben and Rey's journey to Exegol begins, things get off to a bumpy start when it is apparent that they are not the only ones searching for the ancient city.  
> Rey tries to ignore a growing attraction to the straight laced librarian.

The bright full moon, a silver pearl against an inky backdrop, shone down on to the river’s waters. All was still and silent apart from the three shady, cloaked figures quietly sliding a narrow skiff out onto the river, silent as shadows. One tightened his hook, where his hand had once been, the metal reflecting the moonlight, a look of determination upon his sun browned face, they had a mission, horrible but necessary. The skiff silently headed for the passenger barge that headed their way.

Armitage sat on the deck playing poker and smoking with the group of Corellian explorers when Rey came out carrying a large canvas bag.

“Sit down, Miss Johnson, sit down, we could use another good player,” he flashed her what he thought was a charming, flirtatious smile. 

“I only gamble with my life, never my money,” she smiled sweetly.

“Never? What if I were to wager five hundred credits says we get to Exegol before you?” Peavey grinned, the balding man on the look out for a way to make more money.

“How do you know where we’re headed?” Rey raised her brows.

She then noticed Armitage’s reddened face and sheepish expression as he avoided her gaze. She rolled her eyes. Idiots. Rey returned Peavey's cocky look with her own.

“I’ll take that bet.”

Mitaka slipped on his dirty bifocals, looking up at Rey.

“What makes you so confident, ma’am?”

“What makes you?” Rey retorted.

Canady, an older man, with a reddened face and broad nose spat a wad of chew into a spittoon nearby.

“We’ve got a man who's actually been there,” he smirked.

Rey’s poker face dropped, perplexed as to who they could mean.

“I say, what a coincidence, why…” Armitage began, his tongue loosened by the bourbon he had been necking.

Rey 'accidentally' hit him in the ribs with her bag, shutting him up, luckily Armitage got the hint.

“Whose deal is it? Is it my deal? I thought I just dealt?” he waffled, avoiding Rey’s piercing eyes.

Rey shook her head with a sigh and walked off.

Ben sat at a table on his own, staring out over the passing river, his book opened upon his lap. He was usually alone, not really fitting in with others, others that usually found him too weird, too bookish, too intense. He didn’t mind, well not that much, but sometimes, sometimes he craved something else, something he didn’t want to put a name to.

A heavy canvas bag dropped onto the table in front of him out of nowhere, startling him.

“Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya,” Rey winked at him.

“The only thing that scares me, Miss Johnson, are your manners.”

“Still angry that I kissed you, huh?” 

What was it about him that made her want to tease him, to see his brow wrinkle in frustration?

“If you call that a kiss,” he muttered.

Rey smiled and let out a little scoff. 

“That wasn’t your first kiss was it?” Rey paused, staring at him. 

Ben’s face betrayed him and turned a deep shade of crimson, right up to his ears that stuck out from his hair. 

He was almost adorable and she would have to be blind and stupid to say he was anything other than attractive. Rey shook that thought off and reached into the bag and started pulling out revolvers, pistols, hunting knives, a massive bantha gun, and a half dozen carefully wrapped sticks of dynamite. Ben placed his book down on the table, his attention caught by the arsenal before him.

“Did I miss something? Are we going into battle?” Ben laughed, poking at a large curved blade.

Dark shadows flitted across Rey’s face, she looked sad for a moment before replacing the look with a blank expression.

“The last time I was at that place everybody I was with died.”

The smile dropped from Ben's face as Rey started dismantling and cleaning the guns. 

“There's something out there, you know, something under that sand,” she said, looking outwards across the river.

“Yes, I'm hoping to find a certain artifact, a book, actually, my brother thinks there's treasure. What do you think is out there?” Ben studied her face, trying not to notice the high cheekbones and smattering of freckles. 

Rey returned his look, her eyes meeting his. 

“Evil,” she replied, all hint of humour gone from her voice. “The Sand Raiders believe that Exegol is cursed, they call it, ‘the doorway to hell’.”

“The correct translation is "Passageway to the underworld", actually.”

He gave her a know-it-all grin, pushing his glasses up on his nose, doing something strange and unfamiliar to Rey's insides. 

“I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Miss Johnson, but I do believe that one of the most  
famous books in history is buried out there, The Book of The Living. It's what first interested me in Alderaan as a child. It's why I came here.”

“And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold, makes no difference to you, right?” Rey cocked her brow and gave him a pointed look.

Ben was surprised by her knowledge, Rey was surprised that Ben’s interests did seem purely academic, unless most men she knew.

“You know your history,” he praised, his tone conveying admiration.

“I know my treasure,” she shrugged, trying not to let his compliment go to her head, although a little feeling of pride tugged at her. 

Ben stood up as though to leave, deciding he should probably try to go sleep. He paused before hesitating and nervously turning back to Rey, his complexion deepening once more.

“By the way, ...why did you kiss me?”

Rey, cleaning her guns, kept her head down and just shrugged her shoulders.

“I was about to be hanged, seemed like a good idea at the time, I was desperate.”

Ben’s eyes widened as he clenched his fists with annoyance before turning and storming off, mortified. Rey looked up, watching him leave, a perplexed look upon her face.

“What? .... What did I say?”

It was then that she heard someone snickering behind a corner. She slowly walked over to the noise before quickly reaching around the wall, grabbing someone by his shirt collar and pulling him from his hiding place. It was Teedo. 

“My very good friend! What a surprise,” his shifty eyes furtively looking around for an escape.

“Why if it isn’t my little buddy, Teedo. I outta kill you, you son of a…”

Rey stuck a knife under Teedo’s throat making him swallow hard, his face paling. He tried to weasel his way out with a big grin.

“You never were any good with men Rey.”

Rey angrily tightened her grip on the spy.

“So you're the one leading the Correlians, I should have figured. So, what's the scam? You get them out into the middle of the desert then leave them to rot? Like you left me in Exegol?”

“Unfortunately, no, these Corellians are smart, they pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Tattoine, so I must go all the way.”

Rey pulled the knife away from the weasley man’s neck. Teedo relaxed a little, rubbing his neck.

“You never believed in Exegol Rey. Why are you going back? The devil himself lives out there, you know that.”

They both looked around the corner as they heard a yelp, when a camel in the horse holding stall tried to take a nip out of Ben who had stopped to pat it. He backed away when it tried again and left, heading to his quarters. Rey’s eyes softened a little as an unfamiliar warmth uncurled within her belly.

“He saved my life, figured the least I could do was keep him out of trouble.”

Teedo scoffed.

“You’re gone for a pair of pretty eyes and soft hands,” he laughed.

Rey’s eyes narrowed at the insult, before fixing a smile in place.

“So, you think he’s eyes are pretty?” she smirked. 

Teedo glared at her mumbling something under his breath. Before Teedo realised what she was doing, she casually picked up her staff and smacked Teedo between the legs, tipping him upwards and backwards. He indecorously fell over the side and into the murky depths of the river. She vaguely heard him shouting expletives at her but just smiled, she had been dealing with creeps like Teedo all of her life. She picked up her bag and headed along the deck to her room when she noticed a set of wet footprints, from someone that had climbed on to the barge from the river, in fact there were more than one set. 

“Damn,” she muttered, instantly on the alert, her senses buzzing.  
−−−  
Ben, wearing his black linen pyjamas stood in front of the mirror in his room, critically examining himself in the glass. His face free of his reading glasses opened up his dark coffee coloured eyes, contrasting with his pale complexion from years studying in the stacks, shunning the hot sun. He never normally bothered himself with his looks, so why did he now find himself wandering if people found him attractive? It was then that his eyes stared in confusion as a pair of beady dark eyes stared back in his reflection. A black clad man with a hook for a hand stood behind him, a menacing look upon his face. Before Ben could respond, the invader slammed a hand over Ben’s mouth and raised his hook as though to strike him.

“Where is the map?” the man hissed into his ear.

Ben's terrified eyes glanced down at the map that lay on the table next to his flickering candle.

“And the key? Where is the key?”

Ben shook his head in confusion, wandering what the man meant. ‘Key what key??’

“Never mind,” the stranger grimaced and aimed his hook to put an end to Ben’s life.

The door burst open unceremoniously, revealing Rey standing there a gun in each hand a determined look upon her tanned face. The man in black hit Ben on the back of his head and spun him round, his hook poised at Ben’s throat.

“Friend of yours Solo?” she teased, her eyes never leaving the attackers.

Before Ben could tell her to do something, everything happened at once. Rey spun around as a window burst open and another black clad figure leant in firing a gun, barely missing Rey, splinters of wood flying from the wall next to her. Rey returned the fire and killed the second attacker, his gun going off blindly into the room and hitting Ben’s lantern. Flames reach out and lick at the wooden fixings in the room. Making the most of the pandemonium and distraction, Ben grabbed the candle on his dresser and lunged it backwards behind him, right into the hook man’s eye. Rey watched impressed before grabbing Ben’s hand and pulling him from the fiery room, the injured man behind them screaming in pain.

Rey dragged Ben down the hallway as the smell of smoke filled the air, puzzled when Ben tried to jerk free.

“The map! We need the map!” he shouted.

“Relax Solo! I'm the map!” she tapped her forehead, still pulling him onwards. “It’s all up here.”

“Oh, that's comforting,” Ben muttered. 

Rey shot him a look before picking up the pace.

“C'mon your Highness, there's still one or more of those guys around here somewhere.”

Meanwhile Armitage, wondering what all the noise and commotion was, went to check up on Ben. He opened the door and walked straight into a strange man, pushing him to the floor, the room on fire. 

“What the…?”

Flames were quickly consuming the room, smoke making it hard to see.

“Ben!!!”

Unable to see his brother, it was then that he noticed he sees the ancient metallic box on the floor and picked it up before fleeing from the room.

Ben and Rey raced out onto the deck near the horse paddock where people were screaming and shouting, chaos reigning. A chunk of the wall explodes next to Ben’s head making Rey pivot on the spot to fire back. It's the last assassin, on the other side of the paddock. Both him and Rey exchange gunfire, Ben ducking with his hands covering his ears. Another lantern burst into flames, adding to the panic as Rey notices the lock on the paddock gate. Using her gun, she expertly aimed and shot off the lock, ensuing that the horses and camels within went crazy and crashed out of their confines. The assassin is lost under the animal’s hooves with a cry as Rey grabs her back over her shoulders.

“Can you swim?” she shouted over the general din and chaos.

Ben looked almost put out at the question.

“Well of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it,” he spluttered.

“Trust me,” she replied, placing her hands across his broad chest and pushing him into the river. “It calls for it.”

Ben disappeared with a splash, his expression one of shock as Rey dived in after him.

Armitage ran out onto the bow the barge, his eyes taking in the craziness before him. He rolled his eyes seeing the three Americans, their guns in every hand, shooting everything in sight. 

“Corellians,” he sneered.

The robed man with candle wax pouring from one eye suddenly stumbled up behind him out of now where, his garments aflame. Armitage turned around letting the flaming hook grab him by the throat with his fiery arm before pinning him to the cabin wall. Armitage’s pale blue eyes widened as he sees the hook rising up inside the flames about to slice him open. The Corellians heard Armitage’s somewhat high-pitched scream and pivoted, opening fire on the assassin who careened over the boats edge. 

“I say! Good show!”

He then pointed to himself, puffing up his chest.

“And did I panic?”

He winked at the Corellians who were staring at him incredulously. 

“I think not.”

As the horses charged out across the bow, Armitage dived inelegantly over the side and into the water as the Corellians gunslingers dove over the other side.  
Rey, Ben, Armitage and Unkar slowly waded out of the river’s water, shock and annoyance painted across their faces. Rey tried not to look too hard at Ben whoes silk pyjamas now clung very closely to his apparently muscular body as he attempted to wring them out. He looked up and caught her looking, his dark hair sticking to his pale face. 

“What?”

To Rey’s annoyance she found herself blushing, finding herself extremely grateful that it was dark enough to hide it.

“Nothing, just checking that you’re not hurt,” she huffed.

Everybody else, including the horses, were slipping and clambering out of the inky water and getting out on the far shore opposite to them. 

“Damn and blast,” Armitage cursed and kicked at the sand, losing his shoe in the process. “They’ve got all the horses and equipment!”

Rey did not seem bothered and stood with a smirk, her arms folded.

“Yes…but they’re on the wrong side of the river.”


	4. City of the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and his travelling companions continue their journey to the ancient City of the Dead, despite several warnings. They soon cover an ancient sarcophagus but unexpected events take a dark turn. Rey's attraction to Ben grows stronger but she is convinced he is repulsed by her, viewing her as a nobody.

The wet and weary travellers soon dried off as the sun began to creep higher in the sky. Following Rey’s directions, they reached a small camp settlement of desert people, the Twilek. They were a curious tribe, interested in trade and were hospitable by nature, warm and greeting. For a small amount of coin, they gladly helped the travellers, providing them with food and water and temporary shelter from the sun. Ben was glad to trade in his silk pyjamas for more serviceable clothes to continue his journey. The clothes were native to the Twilek warriors but suited his tall muscular frame, to the extent Rey felt hotter than normal when he left the red canvas tent. He stood awkwardly pulling at the black overshirt, tucking them into the light black trousers that were tucked into a pair of brown leather boots. Armitage caught Rey looking at his brother and smirked. He laughed when he saw her frowning at a group of young women hovering and giggling nearby as they watched Ben appraisingly. 

“We could trade my brother you know,” he said.

She flashed him a look caught between anger and amusement. 

“We’d get a few extra fathiers…”

“Tempting,” Rey muttered, still looking at Ben.

“I bet.”

Rey glared at him.

“Don’t make me punch you again.”

Armitage backed off, but a smirk still played upon his expression. Ben looked up and caught Rey’s eyes. He looked down at his outfit then back up at her and shrugged. He looked different without his spectacles, his dark eyes opened up, rich and intense. She smiled before turning quickly away, scolding herself for her girlish reactions, blaming it on the heat of the mid-morning sun. She was not the type to get flustered over a man, no matter how tall he was, or how rich and shining his luscious hair was. She growled inwardly and stomped off.

−−−

Endless golden and amber sands baked under the fiery sun as a hazy mist hovered over the dunes in the distance, distorting the horizon. Ben, Armitage, Rey and Unkar Plutt rode across the plains upon the backs of their fathiers, tall, gentle creatures known for their speed and agility across all terrains. Armitage however was not a fan of the graceful creatures, his dislike painted across his face for all to see.

“Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting.”

Unkar Plutt savagely attacked a klatoon paddy frog leg with his vile yellowed teeth, making a slobbering, slathering noise. Flies buzzed around his head as he sucked at his gums before spitting out some gristle causing Rey to grimace.

“Yeah, disgusting.”

Ben however was smiling to himself on top of her fathier, having never ridden one before.

“Well I think they're rather wonderful,” he leant down and patted his gently upon its furry neck. 

Rey couldn’t help but smile at his actions and the look of happiness on his face, it was the most relaxed that she’d seen him.

Two days had passed as the travellers reached further and deeper into the desert, the wilderness becoming more and more barren by the hour. On the second night, the moon rose and chased the sun away, casting the vast lands in a blue silver light, ethereal and effervescent, the air cool and balmy. Armitage was sound asleep, his head bobbing comically to the rhythm of his fathier’s pace, Unkar next to him, snoring loudly. Up in front of them, Ben’s eyes slowly nodded shut as he began to lose the battle against the sleep that overtook him. He began to slide off his saddle bit by bit. Rey noticed and reached over to stop him, gently pushing him back up onto his saddle, huffing with the effort. She felt the muscles in his arm and let her hand linger there for just a moment longer than she needed to. How was a librarian so muscular? She quickly moved her hand when he stirred and leant back into her saddle. For a long moment, her eyes lingered on him as he slept, his breathing shallow and peaceful when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Up on a rocky ridge in the distance, a group of riders gathered, looking down upon them, watching. Rey frowned; things were getting more complicated than she had anticipated. 

The dawning sun hadn't yet crested upon the distant horizon as Armitage and Unkar rode alongside a giant sand dune.

“And you snore!” Armitage shouted.

“I do not snore!”

“Yes, you did! All night!”

“I have never snored!” Unkar retorted, his jowls wobbling.

Up in front of them, Rey looked over at Ben with a roll of her eyes.

“Let’s say we lose them,” she joked.

Ben’s eyes widened a little until he realised that she was joking. 

“Tempting,” he replied. “But he is my brother, not matter how annoying he is.”

Rey smiled in reply, her whole face lighting up. Ben felt a flutter in his chest and found himself grinning back at her. She noted how boyish he looked when he smiled and found herself wishing that he would smile more often. 

“We're almost there,” she dragged her eyes away and focused back on the horizon.

He noticed the shadow fall on her expression.

“Are you sure?”

Rey looked down at the ground with a frown.

“Pretty sure.”

The others looked down and saw dozens of skeletons sticking out of the ground. Bleached from the sun and eroded by time, the place was a literal graveyard. Some of the skeletons looked like they were trying to desperately crawl up out of the desert floor.

“What in bloody hell is this?” Armitage grimaced with a shiver.

“Other seekers of Exegol,” Rey murmured.

Ben felt cold and for the first time since they set out, a sliver of fear crept along his spine. 

Their macabre discovery was interrupted by the sound Corellian Expedition riding out from behind the far end of the dune. The Corellians were accompanied by two dozendiggers and an Alderologist. Teedo lead the group on a fathier, his expression smug.

“Good morning, my friends,” he shouted.

Rey just nodded in response. The two parties come to a stop a hundred feet apart both staring out at the sandy vista before them. Rey and Teedo looked patiently ahead whilst everyone else looked between them, puzzled.

“Well, what the hell we waiting for?” Canady demanded.

“Patience, my friend, patience,” Teedo replied.

Peavy looked over at Rey, his expression cocky.

“First one to the city Johnson. Five hundred credits.”

Rey and Teedo just stared out at the flat nothingness as Ben and Armitage shared a look. It was then that the sun started to rise in the distance, breaking the flat horizon with orange and golden light.

“Get ready,” she muttered.

Ben felt the suspense and tension in the air, his stomach flipped with excitement.

“For what?” Armitage asked.

“We're about to be shown the way,” Rey replied, her gaze never shifting from the rising sun.

Far off to the right, a huge shape began to rise with the sun, ruins, tall and vast.   
Peavey, Canady and Mitaka shared a look, and then quickly urged their fathiers into action, the Corellians racing off.

“See you there Johnson,” Peavey whooped.

Rey urged her creature forward with a cry and a gentle tap of her riding crop. Ben and Armitage’s fathiers followed suit, not wanting to be left behind. They soon caught up with the Corellians, Rey and Teedo neck-and-neck when Ben came galloping up alongside of them, hair flying in the wind, his face split into a wide grin. Teedo tried to push Ben off his fathier with his riding crop, hitting him violently. Ben growled in anger and surprised Rey by leaning over, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and yanked him off his seat and let him drop heavily to the sandy floor. Rey laughed as she and Ben raced across the desert. Ben had never felt so alive, so free; he looked over at Rey and laughed. She grinned back at him, his excitement infectious. They could hear the other riders gaining on them when Ben, shouted encouragement to his animal shot ahead, beating Rey to the stone ramp into the ancient city. 

“Ben! Slow down!”

Ben ignored him as he raced up the ramp towards the gate.

“SLOW DOWN, BEN! SLOW DOWN! THERE'S A REALLY BIG…”

It was too late, for Ben flew over the fathier’s head, none too gracefully as they hit a drop in the path. Ben crash landed in a sand dune as his fathier stumbled. Rey winced as Ben landed and hoped that he wasn’t hurt. He sat up, stunned, sand sprinkled raven hair in his eyes. He shook his head and shook the sand from his hair, coughing. Rey stopped at the edge of the ramp next to Ben’s fathier who shook himself and made a rumbling, bleating roar as though it was embarrassed. 

“Never mind,” Rey said, jumping down from her saddle. “Are you okay?”

Ben got to his feet; red faced as he dusted himself off.

“Just my pride that’s bruised.”

“Well if it makes you feel any better, we won,” she grinned. 

The Corellians and the rest of their party rode up and looked in wonder at the ruins before them. Rey stood with her hands on her hips as she flashed them a victorious grin.

“You boys owe me five hundred credits.”

The Corellians sulked at their loss, scowling and muttering at Rey and Ben as they passed. 

By lunchtime the two parties had set up their camps and had begun work, neither one wanting to waste any time. Under the guidance of the Alderologist, the Corellian’s diggers were busy hauling rock and dirt out of the Temple doorway. The three Corellians were playing Sabaac while Teedo smoked swatting at the flies circling him. Several stray fathiers roamed the decrepit city; dusty backpacks and old saddlebags still slung over their backs.

“Where'd all these fathiers come from?” Peavey asked.

“They belong to the dead. They will wait years for their masters to return before leaving.”

Canady shuddered and tried to focus back on the game.

Rey, Ben, Armitage and Unkar were working next to a narrow crevice, which wove its way through the ruins. Rey tied a rope around a pillar and threw the rest of the plaited coils into the crevice, about to rappel down. The Face of Revan stared down at them, unmoving, never changing during the passage of time.

“That thing gives me the creeps,” Armitage said staring up at the stone visage.

“That "thing" gets me excited,” said Ben,

“The things that get you excited,” Armitage replied with a roll of his eyes. “You and I are very different.”

Ben was not listening, his excitement and enthusiasm spilling over into his voice.

“According to Jedi Scholars, inside the statue of Revan was a secret compartment, perhaps containing The Book of The Living.”

“Are we just going to discuss it or are we actually going to get in there,” Rey gestured to the gap in the rock.

“Ladies first,” Armitage smiled.

Rey sighed and rappelled into the crevice, disappearing into the shadows. Ben shrugged and followed after her, the cool air of the crevice rushing past him, as the hot sunlight was replaced by stone and shadow. Unkar came last and landed in an indecorous heap on the dusty floor. 

“What are those mirrors for?” Unkar asked, stumbling to his feet, noticing the metal disks in the room. 

“Ancient Alderaanian trick. You'll see,” Ben looked around him in awe.

Rey waved her torch to shed light on the chamber, the flickering light rippling across the stone. 

“Do you realize, we are standing inside a room that no one has entered in over four thousand years,” Ben said, the reverence in his voice.

“Who cares? Where is the treasure?” Unkar huffed and sighed.

“And it stinks to high heaven in here,” Armitage wrinkled his nose.

He sniffed the foul, fetid air then looked at Unkar, realising exactly where the smell was coming from. 

“Oh.”

Ben just rolled his eyes, wondering why he was surrounded by idiots in an amazing place like this, aside from Rey.

Ben approached a metal disk on a pedestal, covered in cobwebs and dust. He brushed it all away and repositioned it, aiming it at the ray of light falling in through the crevice in the rock. The sunlight hit the disk and quickly shot around the room from one disk to the next, illuminating the whole chamber. 

“Wow, that is a neat trick,” Armitage stated.

“Oh my maker, it’s a preparation room,” Ben exclaimed, his eyes widening.

“Preparation for what?” Rey frowned, her hand instinctively on her weapon as she looked around cautiously. 

“For entering the afterlife.”

Armitage gently nudged her.

“Mummies, my good lady, this is where they made the mummies,” he made a ghostly wailing noise in her face.

She slapped his arm with a huff and walked off whilst he shrugged and took a small sip from his hip flask. 

Ben headed down a narrow passageway, his excitement over taking his caution and trepidation as the others followed. They crouched as they made their way through a narrow, cobweb infected labyrinth. It was silent, their footsteps and breathing echoing though the corridor when they heard a noise. It sounded as though something was clawing inside the walls, scratching and digging at the stone. They froze and shared looks before slowly moving forward again, weapons raised. The passageway grew darker and darker as the strange sound grew louder and louder, before it stopped abruptly. Ben held his breath as Rey cocked her pistol. They slowly crept out of the labyrinth and up to the foot of an enormous half-buried statue. It was the lower half of Revan; they were beneath its feet.

Then they heard the sound again, coming closer now, from the other side of the statue and getting closer. Rey instinctively jumped in front of Ben to his surprise, pulling him behind her.   
Rey raised her gun and jumped out as three sweaty faces lunged at her. She cocked her gun but didn’t shoot, it was just the Corellians, aiming with their weapons. Everyone sighed and dropped their weapons in relief. 

“You scared the wampas out of us, Johnson.”

“Likewise.”

“This here is our statue friend,” Peavey smirked.

“Well, your names not on it,” Rey fired back. 

That is when Teedo, five Diggers and the Alderologist stepped out of the shadows, all of them holding weapons aimed at Rey and her group.

“Ten to one Johnson, your odds are not so good.”

“I've had worse.”

The tension grew as Teedo cocked his gun with a snarky grin, making Rey glare, her temper rising.

“You guys need to control your woman,” he laughed at Ben and Armitage.

“Why you…” she dove forward as Ben quickly grabbed her and pulled her back. 

“Now now gentlemen,” he said calmly. “We’re all adults here, there is plenty of digging sites to go around.”

“But...”

“There are plenty of OTHER sites to dig.”

He gently held her arm, lowering her gun down and pulling her back towards him. He had never sounded so deep and commanding and Rey found that she liked it. They all nodded in agreement and followed Ben down a nearby passageway as the Corellians laughed at their ‘victory’. 

−−

Ben walked up and down pointing excitedly to the ceiling above him, waving his arms animatedly.

“According to my calculations, we should be right under the statue. We'll come up right  
between his legs.”

Ben blushed at his own words and laughed, catching Rey’s amused look and blushing even more.

“We should erm…get started,” he mumbled looking around for a sledgehammer. 

“Well don’t let me stop you,” Armitage leant lazily against a pillar and took another sip from his flask, a flask Rey was beginning to suspect did not contain water.

Ben sighed and picked up his sledgehammer and with surprising efficacy, started attacking the ceiling above. 

“We'll sneak up and steal,” he gasped between swings. “that book right out from under them.”

Rey however, was not really listening for her eyes were drawn to Ben’s arms as they wielded the hefty sledgehammer. She couldn’t help but notice how the fabric of his shirt pulled tight across his biceps each time he flexed his arm. She felt a rush of warmth at the apex of her thighs, shocking herself by her own reaction to him, she was behaving like a giddy school girl. 

“You sure you can find the secret compartment?” Armitage asked.

Ben paused mid swing and stared down at his brother with a look of contempt.  
“You know you could help?”

“I’m keeping watch,” Armitage drawled as he leant back on to the pillar, closing his eyes. “Ask Unkar.”

“Our pungent friend seems to have wandered off,” commented Rey looking around with a frown.

Ben sighed and took another swing at the ceiling, dust and rock falling down on to him.   
“Anyway, yes, if their alderologist hasn't already found it, I should find the compartment.”

“Best keep digging then,” Rey said, watching him with a hint of a smile as he carried on, thwack, whack. 

After a few more minutes of swinging Ben paused for a breath, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. Rey grabbed her water flask and took a long hard drink; she had gotten so thirsty all of a sudden.

“Let me get this straight, they stuck a sharp, red hot poker up your nose, cut your brain into small pieces, then ripped it all out through your nostrils?” she asked, trying to take her mind off its current trajectory. 

“Well yes, more or less.”

“Gross.”

That was when a huge chunk of the roof suddenly gave out and dropped down, Ben merely looked up as Rey spied a huge crack forming. She dove forward and pushed Ben out of the way, both of them sprawling to the floor as a massive stone casement dropped from the ceiling and crashed to the floor in a cloud of dust. Rey coughed and cleared her lungs of the dust as she realised her hands were pressed against Ben’s very solid chest, in fact her whole body was pressed against him. Ben was in shock, for one minute he had been looking up at the ceiling and the next he was on his back with Rey lying on top of him. The same Rey that he had been trying to get out of his head ever since she had pressed her lips against his in the grimy jail cell. The same Rey that was now pressed tightly against him. So tight. He could feel his arousal growing, which would be most inconvenient considering how close she was to him, it would not be something he could hide. Rey was just beginning to think how intoxicating his body heat was, how hard he felt beneath her when he abruptly rolled her off him and quickly stood up, dusting himself off. She tried not to take affront at his actions, but it definitely felt like a rejection of sorts. She huffed, for she was being ridiculous. Just because she found him attractive did not mean that the feeling was mutual, in fact he had been pretty clear about what he thought about her when they met. She was definitely not the sort of woman that his class would pursue in any respectable way, but why should that bother her? She had never sought out male companionship of that nature though many men had tried, so why was he under her skin, so much so that her whole body had an itch she couldn't scratch. She frowned, for now he was avoiding her eyes.

As the dust began to clear, Armitage joined them under the gaping hole in the ceiling where the stone casement had fallen through. Ben, having recovered a modicum of his dignity began to examine the large stone that dropped from above.

“Oh my god, ...it looks like, it looks like a sarcophagus,” he ran his hands lightly over the cold stone.  
“Why would they bury somebody in the ceiling?” Armitage asked, looking up.

Ben rolled his eyes in exasperation. 

“They didn't, they buried him at the foot of Revan.”

“What does that mean?” Rey furrowed her brows, walking around the ancient sarcophagus.

“Well,” said Ben, looking for inscriptions. “He was either someone of great importance, or he did something very wrong.”

The three of them cleared the dirt from off the top of the sarcophagus, revealing one, single, ominous hieroglyph. Ben stared at it; his eyes intense as he bit down on his lip. Armitage impatiently strummed his fingers across the dark lid.

“Well? .... Who or what is it?”

Ben continued to stare at the hieroglyph, confused and concerned, his brow wrinkled.

“He that shall not be named,” his voice had dropped lower, huskier.

“Well that’s informative,” Armitage quipped.

Rey dusted off what seemed to be some kind of locking mechanism.

“There's some sort of lock here. You say these things are made of granite with a steel interior?”

“Quarried granite with a cobalt lining,” Ben replied.

“Whoever's in here, sure wasn't getting out,” said Rey. “And without a key, it'll take us a month to crack into this thing.”

“A key! That's it! That's what he was talking about,” Ben suddenly became very animated.

“Who was talking about what?”

Ben started rummaging through the pack on Armitage’s back.

“The man on the barge. The one with the hook, he was looking for a key.”

Ben pulled out the ‘puzzle box’ as Armitage tried to swipe it back.

“Hey that's mine!”

Ben pushed his hand away and quickly unfolded the box, now evident that it was shaped exactly like the lock’s keyhole. Ben placed it slowly over the lock where it fit perfectly. Ben grinned at Rey triumphantly, she couldn’t help but grin back, his joy infectious.

It was at that victorious moment that they heard horrifying, blood curdling screams echoing through the labyrinth. Ben’s blood ran cold, Armitage jumped and Rey pulled out her gun at lightning speed. 

“Unkar.”

The three ran off in the direction of the screaming and found Unkar Plutt shouting and dancing insanely around the corridor, clutching his head. They could not see what was wrong but he seemed to be in extreme pain. His face was red, his eyes bulging as he began to rip his own hair out, the screaming never stopping. Ben and Armitage made a weak attempt at grabbing his hands and trying to calm him down whilst Rey kept her gun trained on him. Unkar however, was too far crazed and shoved them out of the way and ran at full pelt down the length of corridor and slamming his head straight into a rock wall. Unkar dropped to the ground heavily, his screams ended, his body unmoving. The three companions, breathing hard and wide-eyed look at each other in shock, disturbed by what had happened. Ben cautiously edged closer to their fallen companion, crouching next to him. He already knew what he would find as the blank, blood shot eyes of Unkar stared up at him. Ben slowly pressed his fingers against the pudgy, sagging neck to feel for a pulse, it was as he suspected. He looked up at the others as the approached, his face white.

“He’s dead.”


End file.
